So this week in Queenstown for my first dinner on Monday night I picked Bombay Palace. They have locations in Queenstown, Frankton, Wanaka and Invercargill.

The menu is fairly extensive so from the vegetarian selections I chose the Kadhai Paneer (Fresh home-made cheese cooked with onions, tomatoes, capsicums and green chilli in a thick sauce) with an Aloo / Paneer Paratha (Whole wheat bread stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes/cottage cheese).

Total was $22.50 (no drink).  I loved the curry, it was beautiful.  The paratha was ok, it was a little too greasy with ghee (butter) for my taste and had a real kick of chilli in it.  This would be better to share.

Service was attentive and by 7pm the restaurant was full, even though its not peak season in Queenstown.

I noticed they do discounted curry’s on a Wednesday night so if you are on a budget and in town for a while this might be a good choice.

I give this meal a 3.5/5 – the curry was great and I’d order it again, the paratha, not so much.

Lunch for Tuesday I went to Hikari Sushi in the Queenstown mall and got a takeaway pick-your-own from the cabinet sushi.  Hikari Sushi is also a small chain and one of my favourites from when I was in Dunedin a couple of months ago.

The pieces in the cabinet are individually priced.  I chose 6 pieces – the two inari and there are 4 pieces of vegetarian tempura roll in the box (stacked).  This came to $9.20.

When you buy more than 3 pieces you can get a free miso soup upon request, so this would also be a great spot for a light snack between meals too.

They had an extensive selection in the cabinet but these appeared to be the only two vegetarian options.

But it was very tasty and I give it 5/5 – I like the fact I could chose what I wanted in my own snack box and I wish more sushi places at home had this option.

Dinner on Tuesday was at The Spice Room which is the highest rated Indian restaurant in Queenstown on Tripadvisor.  I was struggling to choose which curry from the menu so I short listed two and asked the waitress which she’d recommend.  She suggested the Subz Bahaar (Carefully selected mixed vegetables cooked to perfection in a thick sauce of onions and tomatoes then seasoned with home pounded herbs and spices) and I ordered a Rose Lassi to go with it.  I usually order a Mango Lassi as Rose isn’t one you see often on menus.  The curry was $20.90 and the lassi was $5.90.

The service was excellent, very attentive and the views from the front part of this restaurant are spectacular.

The vegetables were beautifully cooked – potato, carrot, cauliflower and green peas.  All cooked beautifully without being mushy.  The gravy was thick and rich. It had a very homemade taste – in a good way.  It felt like a very traditional dish cooked in an authentic way.  Its not a dish you see regularly on a menu and in fact they had a couple of others that were a little different from the regular choices.

I give this a 4/5 over all.  While the curry was lovely, it wasn’t in my top 10 favourites but I would go back again and try something else.

Wednesday’s lunch was a vege roll from the overpriced Alpine Supermarket.   No photo and not worth getting excited about.

Wednesday’s dinner was delicious, I was invited to dine with my workmate and his lovely family.  The meal was wonderful and great company but I don’t think they do catering 😉

For my last meal in Queenstown I chose Tham Nak Thai for lunch and got the Vegetarian Bento box (Comes with Stir fried mixed vegetables, Panang Tofu Curry, Spring Roll & Vegetable Tempura, Thai Tofu Salad, Peanut Tofu, Jasmine Rice) for $14.90.

Would order this again in a heartbeat.  The red curry was spicy, the peanut sauce was sweet and tasty, the vegetable stirfry was crispy and the tempura were oh so good and tasty.  The salad convinced me it was at least half healthy to counteract the greasy tempura.

This was a good sized meal and I struggled to finish it.

5/5 and great service to.  I’ve been to this restaurant before and I’ll no doubt go back again next time I’m in Queenstown.